Appointments, finances await council on Wednesday

A number of appointment processes and discussions await the Ridgecrest city council at Wednesday's meeting, as it moves forward on filling a vacancy following the resignation of Mayor Pro Tem Jason Patin on Aug. 9.

A number of appointment processes and discussions await the Ridgecrest city council at Wednesday's meeting, as it moves forward on filling a vacancy following the resignation of Mayor Pro Tem Jason Patin on Aug. 9.

California law requires the council to fill the vacancy within 60 days. According to the staff report attached to the council item, the deadline is Oct. 2, 2013. The appointee will serve out the last of Patin's term, which ends Dec. 3.

City council has a list of options in filling the vacancy: Special election, appointment, an application process, and appointment of the person with the third-highest vote from the 2012 election.

According to the agenda item, a special election will cost the city a minimum of $98,000, depending on the level of service.

City Clerk Rachel Ford confirmed that price Monday, citing that it was the last cost estimate received from the county.

"We are just not set up to hold the ballots, codify or count the results," Ford said. She added that going through the county for a stand alone election was much less expensive.

"A stand alone election can cost a lot more than $98,000," Ford said. "In Riverside when they had to fill a vacant position, it cost at least $1 million for a stand alone election."

Mayor Dan Clark said Monday during a press meeting that he preferred the appointment of the third-highest vote getter from the 2012 election. Former Mayor Ron Carter received the third-highest votes following Councilmembers Jim Sanders and Lori Acton.

While Ridgecrest implemented term limits for its elected officials in 2012, Clark said that confirmation from the city attorney's office would allow Carter to serve. Carter would be grandfathered in due to his status as a councilmember prior to the start of term limits.

"If the council doesn't feel comfortable with that and wants to go to an appointment process, then that is the way we can go," Clark said.

He said while the entire process of appointment is up to the council, he will lean toward looking at the list of possible candidates suggested by councilmembers.

An application process, Clark said, would be too cumbersome given that all interviews would need to be conducted in a public forum.

Clark said he has received two names from Sanders, and could consider an appointment from the Planning Commission.

"Generally we tend to appoint from the planning commission, as they have some idea of what the council does, so a number of them would be candidates," Clark said.

Appointments to outside committees

Council will need to fill two appointments to outside boards after following Patin's resignation.

Council members will need to be appointed to serve on a spot on the Ridgecrest Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and act as a liaison to the League of California Cities.

Page 2 of 2 - "We will ask our city council members to step up to the plate to fill those vacancies," Clark said.

Petroglyph event

support

Council will also consider taking action on officially endorsing a proposed Petroglyph Festival as a signature event in November 2014, and potentially set aside funding for the event.

The planned event is one way for the city to generate revenue for its coffers and help jump start an economy hard hit by federal furloughs and sequestration. The idea is to heavily market the presence of the Coso Range Petroglyphs — the largest concentration of petroglyph art in North America — and make it a selling theme to bring tourism to Ridgecrest.

"This is an opportunity to have a huge economic driver for our community, similar to Mule Days in Bishop," Clark said. "I want council to take ownership of this event and help fund it if is necessary."

Clark said the benefit of the city running the event would include portions of the revenue, along with the residual income through sales and transient occupancy taxes that trickle down from the general economy.

"While there is no silver bullet to our economic troubles, if this is marketed correctly, this could be a real help," Clark said.

Clark said the planning for the event is still in the fledging stages, with a committee only just starting to discuss possible plans of attack.

Council will also receive an update on the city's finances as the city finance director presents the 2013 year-end results.

As of press time on Monday, the information was not available for the finances.

The council meeting is scheduled at 6 p.m. at City Hall at 100 W. California Ave. on Wednesday.